Gary Guglielmi
{{Short description|Australian speedway rider}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Use Australian English|date=October 2014}}
{{Infobox Speedway rider
| name = Gary Guglielmi
| image =
| caption =
| nationality = Australian
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1958|2|14|df=y}}
| birth_place = Sydney, New South Wales
| death_date =
| death_place =
| years1 = 1977–1984
| career1 = Coventry Bees
| years2 = 1978, 1980
| career2 = Boston Barracudas
| years3 =
| career3 =
| indivyear1 =
| indivhonour1 =
| teamyear1 = 1978, 1979
| teamhonour1 = British League Champion
| teamyear2 = 1981
| teamhonour2 = British League Cup Winner
| teamyear3 = 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982
| teamhonour3 = Midland Cup Winner
}}
Gary Graham Christopher Guglielmi (born 14 February 1958 in Sydney, New South Wales) is a former Australian international Speedway rider who represented Australia in both test matches and in the World Pairs Championship.{{cite web |url=https://britishspeedway.co.uk/docs/Ultimate_Index_1929-2022.pdf |title=ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022 |website=British Speedway |access-date=21 June 2023}} Guglielmi is of Maltese descent.
Career
Guglielmi partnered fellow Sydney rider Billy Sanders in the 1982, 1983 and 1984 World Pairs Finals. The pair finished in 4th place in 1982 at their home track of Liverpool City Raceway in Sydney while improving to finish second in 1983 at the Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden. This could have easily been a World Championship win for Guglielmi had Sanders, who was otherwise undefeated on the day (and the track record holder at Ullevi), not fallen in turn two on lap one of Heat 16 when the Aussie pair faced the out of form West Germans Egon Müller and Karl Maier. Sanders had won the start from Guglielmi but was excluded (by Australian referee Sam Bass) for causing the race to be stopped. Guglielmi then easily won the re-run from the Germans and Australia ultimately finished one point behind England pair Peter Collins and Kenny Carter. They then finished in 5th place in 1984 at the Pista Speedway in Lonigo, Italy. 1984 would be the last time Guglielmi represented Australia in a Speedway World Pairs Championship Final.
He rode in the United Kingdom for the Boston Barracudas{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000332/19780710/012/0012 |title=Cudas lifted by fearless Gary |website=Lincolnshire Echo |date=10 July 1978 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=23 August 2024}} and the Coventry Bees until 1984 when he was banned for a year by the Australian speedway authorities and served a prison sentence after being convicted of a drugs offence in Australia.Oakes, P & Rising, P (1986). 1986 Speedway Yearbook. {{ISBN|0-948882-00-X}}
Guglielmi finished second behind Sanders in the 1982 Australian Solo Championship at the Claremont Speedway in Perth, and finished fourth in 1983 at Adelaide's Speedway Park behind Sanders, Glyn Taylor and Phil Crump.{{cite web |url=http://www.historyspeedway.nstrefa.pl/indmaustralii.php|title=Individual Australian Championship|website=Historia Sportu Zuzlowego|access-date=20 January 2023}}
Personal life
Gary Guglielmi later married the widow of Billy Sanders.
World Final appearances
=World Pairs Championship=
- 1982 – {{flagicon|AUS}} Sydney, Liverpool City Raceway (with Billy Sanders) – 4th – 16pts (5)
- 1983 – {{flagicon|SWE}} Gothenburg, Ullevi (with Billy Sanders) – 2nd – 24pts (9)
- 1984 – {{flagicon|ITA}} Lonigo, Pista Speedway (with Billy Sanders) – 5th – 14pts (8)
References
{{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guglielmi, Gary Graham Christopher}}
Category:Australian speedway riders
Category:Motorcycle racers from Sydney
Category:Australian expatriate speedway riders in England
Category:Boston Barracudas riders
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